Under one roof: Modern Venice house designed for two couples

CaptionVenice duplex

Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Don and Lisa Dimster, in the foreground with their dog Charlie, share the newly designed duplex with Don's brother, Dennis, and Dennis' wife, Noreen. The floor plans of the two units are mirror images of each other, including dramatic staircases that form a funnel of steel and glass rising...

Don and Lisa Dimster, in the foreground with their dog Charlie, share the newly designed duplex with Don's brother, Dennis, and Dennis' wife, Noreen. The floor plans of the two units are mirror images of each other, including dramatic staircases that form a funnel of steel and glass rising... (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Don Dimster walks away from one end of the new building, where a ground-floor home office faces a small front garden with drought-tolerant grasses, rosemary bushes and melaleuca and olive. The architect's future plans include a steel enclosure with opaque acrylic panels. The staircase in his...

Don Dimster walks away from one end of the new building, where a ground-floor home office faces a small front garden with drought-tolerant grasses, rosemary bushes and melaleuca and olive. The architect's future plans include a steel enclosure with opaque acrylic panels. The staircase in his... (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Both units of the duplex have two bedrooms on the ground floor, including this one in Don's unit. German-made pivot-tilt windows capture cooling ocean breezes. "Pivot-tilt windows are interesting," Dimster said. "You can tilt them open a little bit or you can close them and open them wide like...

Both units of the duplex have two bedrooms on the ground floor, including this one in Don's unit. German-made pivot-tilt windows capture cooling ocean breezes. "Pivot-tilt windows are interesting," Dimster said. "You can tilt them open a little bit or you can close them and open them wide like... (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)